The President of the Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic, Demostenes Martínez, announced yesterday that prison sentences for defamation and slander have been removed from the Penal Code reform, currently being reviewed in the legislature, said news website dr1.
The National Press Association of Bolivia, or ANP, described new rules in the country's law against human trafficking as an "attack" on freedom of expression and the "confiscation" of media outlets' financial resources, news portal Los Tiempos reported.
In Brazil defamation currently carries a minimum sentence of only three months, but that could change to two years if a penal code reform project currently being discussed in the Senate is approved.
The International Press Institute released a statement on Monday, Feb. 18, warning of rising impunity for crimes against journalists in Brazil and insisting the Congress approve a bill that would allow federal authorities to investigate attacks on press workers in the country.
The president of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, vetoed reforms to the Access to Public Information Law that would have weakened the institution overseeing the law's implementation, according to the website El Faro, on Friday, Feb. 15.
A bill proposed in Honduras would create an organization to regulate media content, according to La Prensa.
The Salvadoran Congress approved reforms to the Access to Public Information Law that strip the autonomous access to public information institute of the power to declassify secret documents and order public institutions to respond to requests for information, according to El Faro.
The Mexican Supreme Court declared laws that restrict information presented as part of a preliminary investigation are unconstitutional and restrict the public's right to access information, reported the newspaper Reforma.
On Friday, Feb. 1, Uruguayan President José Mujica announced that he would implement new media regulations in 2013, reported the newspaper El Diario. Mujica did not specify which regulations would be implemented but new media rules were a central part of his administration's political agenda, approved in 2012, noted the newspaper.
A government decree that would temporarily suspend tax credits enjoyed by the media in Honduras sparked controversy in the country, according to a report from the website Centinela Económico.